Salary.com has a great article called Wasted Time At Work Still Costing Companies Billions in 2006. From the opening paragraph: the average worker admits to squandering 1.86 hours per 8-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time Amazing, but it gets better: The biggest distraction for respondents was personal Internet use. 52.0% of the 2,700 people polled cited web surfing as their #1 distraction at work. Socializing with co-workers came in second at 26.3%. Conducting personal business, “spacing out,” running errands, and making personal phone calls were the other popular time-wasting activities in the workplace. I particularly enjoyed the “spacing out” time waster. It came in at 6.6%. The sum… Read More
Continue ReadingWhether to Use the Stick or Carrot
Sales&Marketing Management posts this online article – Iron-Fisted Management – regarding negative motivation. Being a psychology major, I am always drawn to these discussions. From the article: Matt McCann, district sales manager at ACSIA, a Darien, Illinois-based long-term insurance agency, agrees. “I think [negative incentives] are counterproductive. You may see short-term success, but I think it builds resentment,” McCann says. When he’s seen or heard about negative motivation, it’s yielded the same result: short-term profits, but an office inferno. Those who are the objects of punishments “start saying they don’t want to bend over backwards. They wash their hands of the situation, look for other jobs, and try to get… Read More
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